It is possible to earn income from a news site. But it depends on what kind of news and how much traffic/impressions the site attracts. News about an industry is worth more than a diffuse focus. News about celebrities, a geographic area or a sports team is less profitable than a news site about an economically thriving industry.

Go to BlogAds.com and look at what sites are selling impressions for. I saw a general news site there with 1.5 million impressions per week offering inventory for $1,500 per week, which is an income of about $6k per month. I didn't check if they have any buyers, I am simply passing this way of measuring the profitability of a niche to you so you can have an idea of how to research this very important question. BlogAds.com is not the only place for researching this kind of business question. CJ is another. There are many more.

I've shown you how to do it. Now get out there and learn by doing. ;) Research other websites that broker ads between publishers and advertisers to get a picture of whether there is a demand or not. Find similar sites and review their advertising rates, see how many ad slots they're selling, etc. Use your imagination.

This is something you have to learn to do for yourself if you are going to thrive online. This is the research you must learn to do for yourself before entering any online venture. Does it make sense opening a pork sausage factory in Iran? That kind of thing.

Every news site I go to has ads on it -- often AdSense. If I were you, I would just go ahead and try. As long as you don't overdo it and annoy your users, I can't see that you have anything to lose. :)

The OP may not be able to place AdSense on their site if by "gaming" it is meant that the content is gambling related. Google currently prohibits adding AdSense ads on gambling related sites [support.google.com].

NYTimes is a megasite that can sell premium advertising direct to advertising agencies. Any news site can also sell advertising direct to merchants if there's a local angle to it. I don't want to restate the post that's in the sticky but you've got to identify who that traffic is valuable to and be able to promise them traffic or mindshare exposure or else join the appropriate affiliate program and collect more of the money yourself.

Interest Based Advertising could conceivably give a news site a lift with better and more relevant ads. Other than that, if you can't find an affiliate program that pays for your niche then it's likely you aren't going to find much joy with AdSense.

Everyone knows that the closer your site content is to the "buying cycle", the more money you can make with advertising. But there are still plenty of sites which are purely informational which make some money from advertising. Especially if they are popular and have a lot of traffic. I guess these are the types of sites where interested-based advertising pays off.

I suppose it depends on your goals. I'm not clear if you already have a gaming news website, or if you are thinking of creating one in order to earn some money. If you already have the site, my opinion would be to put on ads and see what happens. If you don't yet have a site, and you are needing to earn some money, it may be wiser to choose a niche that has more earning potential.

That said, I'm still of the opinion that you will likely have more success in creating a popular and useful website if you work in a niche you love. I simply couldn't create a good website for (for arguments sake) reviews of plumbing supplies, even if that was the highest earning niche around. Picking a good niche is not the only aspect to earning money -- the site has to rank, and that is less likely to happen in an area you find boring.

I know many people will disagree. :)

If you don't yet have a website, you also need to bear in mind that it generally takes several years before your site will be able to earn anything more than pocket-money from advertising.

Don't forget the other issue of copyrighted material. Game websites often use images from the games, this could land you in trouble. And if the site is not going to be in your own language, then who will be writing the content (and checking it) ?

IanCP: I really do not have an idea what's your problem with this post...

gmb21: First off, thanks for a nice post. But let me answer a few questions of yours: yes, I do have a site, however i've it for a short period of time and it isn't popular yet. I love gaming, so it isn't an alien subject to me. My main goal is to write what i want and think about gaming, not to make money. Making money is just a side-goal due to a tough financial situation in real life. I also do agree with your opinion that you have to love what you do. Otherwise it's a pain to do it. :)

So what would be a "earner's" niche? I wouldn't mind creating another site and running it alongside with my current site to get some money, if I'd like the subject.

Lame_Wolf: Thanks for the warning, though I already solved this problem. :) I'm writing the content, and I'm checking it. And I don't really see why might this might be a problem, as I'm quite fluent in English.

You're the only one who's gonna figure that out. Anyone who's got a great niche isn't gonna share it, and the obvious ones (financial, health, shopping comparison) are oversaturated.

Look around in your life, figure out a need people have, and if you can fill it. Then go look and see who else in that niche, and objectively decide whether or not you can do it better. When you come up with one where you can, run with it. But understand that to build traffic (and thus earnings) on a new site in a new niche, you're probably talking a year or so. Myself, I have a lot of sites, but unless I'm very sure I'm going to get instant traffic, I don't even put ads on for six months while I'm building traffic and buzz.